Fundamentalist legions seek to remake church and society

In the unique ministry of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a press conference is as comfortable a setting as a church service. There he was last week at New York City's Kennedy Airport, smiling out at television crews and slightly incredulous reporters. His mission: to offer optimistic words of moral assurance about South Africa's embattled white regime, whose leaders he had just met during a whirlwind five-day visit. He urged the good Christian folk of America to buy up gold Krugerrands and push U.S. "reinvestment" in South Africa.

The words provoked a nationwide furor, but Falwell persevered at a follow-up press conference...